Equipment allocation and replacement

Allocation

research students (for their 3 years).
For extra computer kit (such as test boxes, specialist hardware, etc) students approach their supervisor to find suitable kit from the group pool.

academic staff (machine from the pool; non-standard hardware to be on grants)

support/admin staff (upgrades as required)

The machines and docking stations are provided from a diverse pool, allowing people to select an appropriate one for their current needs.
Someone may start with a silent fanless low power machine while reading papers, move on to a lowish spec machine for some initial experiments, and end up with a high spec machine for final tests.
Someone else may require a very low power, but "always on", machine, using a TSS for more serious cycles.
Someone else may prefer to use their own laptop, with a docking station, keyboard, mouse and LCD in the department.
The spec of the default offering is reviewed from time to time by the people who consider IT strategy.
As of 2011/09 the min spec is a 3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 250GB disc, 2MPl LCD, 100Mbps NIC, running Unix or Windows with MS office.
In practice the default minimum is a Dual Core 64b CPU with 6GB RAM and 180GB of SSD.